Vaulting Ambition
In The mirror universe In The USS Defiant (NCC-1764) ' |image= |series= |production=112 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Jordon Nardino |director= Hanelle M. Culpepper |imdbref=tt6011054 |guests= Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, Mary Chieffo as L'Rell', Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber', Sam Asante as Senior Guard', Jeremy Crittenden as Lord Eling', Raven Dauda as Dr. Pollard', Billy MacLellan as Barlow', Dwain Murphy as Captain Maddox', Tasia Valenza as Shenzhou Computer', Marie Ward as Junior Guard |previous_production=The Wolf Inside |next_production=What's Past is Prologue |episode=DSC S01E12 |airdate= 21 January 2018 |previous_release=The Wolf Inside |next_release=What's Past is Prologue |story_date(s)=Unknown |previous_story=The Wolf Inside |next_story=What's Past is Prologue }} Summary "Captain" Burnham and her "prisoner" Lorca are summoned to the ISS Charon, the palace ship of Emperor Georgiou. In order to return home, they still need to find out the coordinates of the interphasic space that brought the USS Defiant to the parallel universe. The emperor is delighted to see Burnham alive, who is much like a daughter to her. She sentences the alleged traitor Lorca to spend the rest of his life in an agony booth. Burnham is asked to choose one Kelpien slave for an unknown reason, and she picks one. During her dinner with Burnham, Emperor Georgiou casually mentions that the meal is a Kelpien. Although Burnham tries hard to conceal her extreme disgust, the emperor suddenly questions her loyalty and sentences her to death. But as she is going to be executed in the presence of high-ranking Empire officials, Burnham reveals that she comes from another universe and gives Georgiou the Starfleet badge with its different quantum signature as proof. Georgiou spares Burnham's life but kills all officials that are present except one, who promises that he will keep the secret. On the Discovery, Stamets is still in a coma, but his mind is walking about in the spore network together with his parallel universe counterpart, who is trapped there for quite some time already. The other patient on the Discovery, Voq-Tyler, is torn between his human and his Klingon identity. Saru seeks the help of L'Rell, and she finally agrees to treat him after the suffering Voq-Tyler has been beamed into her cell for her to see. In the spore network, Stamets glimpses his deceased friend Culber and follows him, against the advice of his parallel universe counterpart. Culber tells him that the other Stamets was going to destroy the network, and that he simply has to open his eyes to wake up. The two versions of Stamets wake up on their respective ships, the Discovery and the Charon. The Stamets on the Discovery notices that the sickness of the spore network has already spread to the Discovery's spore supply. On the Charon, Burnham proposes to give Emperor Georgiou the spore drive technology, in exchange for the information that will allow the Discovery to return to its own universe. Lorca is still in the agony booth, interrogated by Captain Maddox, who blames him for killing his sister Ava. Georgiou opens Burnham's eyes regarding Lorca's true identity. The Lorca she knows is the one from the parallel universe, the one who gathered followers to overthrow Georgiou, the one who was chased by the parallel Burnham. The only way for him to get on the palace ship was as Burnham's prisoner, and so he went to the Prime Universe and took command of the USS Discovery, to enlist her for the job. As the two are talking, Lorca breaks out of his agony booth and attacks Maddox. Errors and Explanations EAS Continuity # No human being from the Mirror Universe was ever shown to be light-sensitive in previous Star Trek series. Perhaps a way was found to eliminate or minimise the effects – if the latter, it would explain why Spock was able to identify the Alt Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura as inhabitants of the Mirror Universe. TV Tropes Headscratchers # If Mirror Burnham is the Emperor's adopted daughter, and no one outside the Emperor's inner circle is aware of Burnham's betrayal, then why in the hell did Mirror Connor think he could get away with killing her? Even Mirror Spock was afraid of killing Mirror Kirk because of the latter's connections. No way Mirror Connor wouldn't expect a reprisal. A case of Revenge Before Reason — Mirror-Connor is blinded by his jealousy of Burnham's popularity with the crew, and he knows he won't be able to keep his command long at all with Burnham now Back from the Dead. His pride won't let him accept a transfer (if one is available at all) or a demotion, and he probably doesn't have the guts or opportunity to take on a flag officer for a Klingon Promotion, and so the only realistic way for him to at least keep the power he already has is to kill Burnham before she can retake her command. With Mirror-Georgiou's identity such a high-level secret, Mirror-Connor probably has no idea of Mirror-Burnham's relationship to the Emperor and the consequences thereof. And, overall, Terran Empire denizens have only rarely (e.g. Mirror-Spock, Lorca, "Smiley" O'Brien, etc.) been adept at longer-term strategy instead of just impulsive action. It's possible he was thinking that if he could kill her before she hit the bridge, the crew would be forced to accept it as a fait accompli , since the Terran Empire basically runs on Might Makes Right. If he kills her, he is The Captain of the Shenzhou, end of story — at least until Mirror-Detmer or other crewmembers decide that taking him out is a better idea, both to avenge Burnham and to empower/enrich themselves. # If Lorca really is Terran, then how can he handle being working side-by-side with aliens and even reporting to a Vulcan? Aren't they all rabid xenophobes? Pragmatism. He has a goal, and if he has to work with aliens to get to it, so be it. I don't think they are all that xenophobic, Mirror Archer also worked with Mirror T'Pol pretty well. It's more like they are racist (which is not the same) and may have as individuals different levels of racism too (which is also a thing). # Georgiou's explanation that the eyes of Mirror Universe humans are more sensitive to light seems to be an Author's Saving Throw to explain why the MU ships seen in previous Trek series have been so dimly lit, even though that's hardly practical. But the problem is that it isn't just Terran vessels that have been depicted this way ... For example, in the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes the eponymous space station is also way more dark than its Prime Universe counterpart. Are we to assume that the MU Bajorans and Cardassians also independently developed such sensitive eyes? And if that were the case, why didn't MU characters who crossed over to the Prime Universe (such as Bareil in "Resurrection") complain about the bright lights or ask for them to be dimmed? Remember, though, that the station was very dimly lit during the Occupation, as well. The lights only get bright after the Bajorans and Starfleet take over. Come to think of it, Cardassian sets in general tend to be darkly lit, and considering that Cardassian interrogation tactics sometimes involve blasting the subject with high-intensity floodlights, maybe Cardassians in both universes really are a bit sensitive to light. Granted, when the Dominion reoccupied the station, the lights stayed bright, but that might have been as a courtesy to the Bajorans — and possibly to Weyoun, whose species is noted for its poor eyesight. The Dominion may also have been subtly disrespecting the Cardassians by keeping the station uncomfortably bright for them. Also, only the Terrans from the Mirror Universe are noted to be sensitive to light. The Bajorans are a different species altogether, and the same goes for the Klingons, Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans and others who make up Mirror-Voq's alliance. In fact, the Terrans may have subtly evolved their sensitivity to light after spending centuries in deliberately darker environments. Category:Episodes Category:Discovery